2013 Championship

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Michael Thomas scored 4-0 to take first place and $150 cash!Chris Bush and Matthew McDonald both scored 3 ½ , which netted them second place.Tod Head won first place in Class C and Robert Cheng and Sal Mancuso split the first place prize for Class E and below.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Johnny's post on the match was pretty brief and the "Anonymous" comment was pretty provocative. So I thought I'd present a more detailed account.

The E-town Chess Club is a "USCF Affiliate" which holds regular USCF rated events; all our current members are USCF members with current USCF ratings. The New Albany Club has three current USCF members. E-town selects their board players by current rating; New Albany has shuffled their line up at every meeting (three to date) to include playing folks who had never visited their Club before the night of the match (Phil Bond - second match).

The first match was won by E-town with a score of 3 wins and 2 draws. The second match was won by E-town with 4 wins and 3 draws.

Match #3 was a different story; as it was drawn with 3 wins and 1 draw each. Miami Fugate, KY's newest expert and representative of the Highland Chess Club majically appeared on 1st board!

* John Coghill's USCF membership expired 2000-07-31 at that time he had a rating of 1451.
** John Warth's USCF membership expired 2006-11-31 and is considered Unrated by USCF.
*** Bryon Rayzor's USCF membership expired 2011-06-30 at that time he was rated 1135.
Dan Bulleit with a USCF rating of 1368 was present for New Albany but did not play.

I'd like to see New Albany bring "over the board" USCF rated players to the next match so we can compare "apples to apples" instead trying to stack the deck with "correspondence masters" and others who don't play regularly for their Club. But I think I speak for all of us when I say "we just love to play chess"; bring on the strongest team you can muster and let's make the chess boards rumble!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Our match vs The Chess Club of Southern Indiana ended in a tie! 3.5 - 3.5!Johnny Owens, Kerry Fatula and Bob Kilmer all scored victories and Jerry Weldin drewas we ended with 3.5 points on the seven boards played at the Family Buffet.Joe Farrell, Louie De Fiore and Amy Nunn also represented our club. Next time we travel to New Albany!

Friday, April 12, 2013

After writing an article about the "death" of mechanical clocks, I thought it only appropriate to announce their continued longevity. Now that USCF has added the "Blitz Rating" there will be time controls that use no delay. In fact the longest time control will be G/10;d0 (10 minutes - no delay). The shortest time control is G3;d2 and any combination of minutes plus delay that does not exceed 10 is permissible. Examples: G5;d5, G7;d3, G5;d0, and so on.
While mechanical clocks may be passe, watching a flag fall will still stir the passion in the hearts of old timers.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that your mechanical clocks can be used in cooking. Set the clock for how long you like your steaks grilled per side and punch the clock when you flip it over! Or - boil for 5 minutes, reduce heat and simmer for two minutes.

We have a 7 board match set with the "Chess Club of Southern Indiana" for Thursday, April 18th!They are bringing in some ringers this time, so I'm asking the club to come out and support this match. We have 3 players confirmed for this, so if you want to play, give me a call or send me an email as soon as possible.The match will start at 7:45 pm at the Family Buffet in Elizabethtown. We need 4 more players to commit to this match!

Saturday, April 6, 2013

If you thought the title was a typo and were looking for a game between two new members; it was an intentional "curve ball" thrown to get your attention.

Showalter who was known as "The Kentucky Lion" for his huge mane of hair in addition to his ferocity at the chess board; was the 5thUS Chess Champion. Also the 7th, 9th, 11th, and 13th!!Showalter was held in such high regard by his peers that both Pillsbury (after his triumph at Hastings-1895) and Marshall (after winning in Paris -1909) refused to accept the title of United States Chess Champion; which their fans tried to thrust upon them; until they could arrange (and win) a match against Showalter!

Showalter had to satisfy his chess appetite through correspondence chess for most of his early years due to work/family responsibilities and the transportation limitations of his day or his chess accomplishments might have even been greater.

Oh yeah; that curve ball thing. Showalter was an avid baseball player in his youth and is credited with inventing the curve ball by some sources. He was probably the first to throw a curve ball in Kentucky; it is doubtful if anyone can prove who among the 7-9 claimants really deserves the honor of "discovering" the curve ball and in all likelihood it was discovered by several players independent of each other.

I could go on; but then I'd rob my readers of the joy derived from investigating for his/her self; was his wife Nellie a knock out in both beauty and chess; why did he go to Texas, and who was William "Candy" Cummings?

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Tuesday saw a weak turnout as many of our members either had family/personal obligations, were enjoying other pursuits, or weren't able to overcome their Chinese Restaurant phobia. We ended up with 4 players to include "first timer" Frank Little who is enrolled in the "Wounded Warrior" program at Fort Knox. Frank was very eager to expand his chess experience and stayed until the restaurant was closing. Frank intends to join USCF and play in next weeks tournament!

Kerry Fatula dropped by and announced that he and his wife have made an offer on a house in Pennsylvania. Stay in touch Kerry and show those boys in Allentown,PA how the game is played!

Amy and I rounded out the meeting.

Johnny left for Nashville and the Super Nationals today.

Joe got delayed in Colorado, where Steven receives medical treatment from time to time, and will not be able to play in the "Kings" tournament this weekend. His post on KCA (1 April) was not an April Fools hoax. We all wish Steven a speedy recovery and a safe trip home. Joe has passed the baton to Ernie Weaver. Good luck Ernie!

Again, this serves as a reminder that we will meet at the College next Tuesday.